Susan Lawrence’sdebut novel faces the saddest of events that one could imagine. When Emily Adams is driving down a street, being watchful of a nearby bicyclist, a small boy, Isaiah, rides his skateboard in front of her car. Cars move too fast — no way could she have stopped. Cars are too much for a little kid and the child dies.

The rubber tunnel of grief and guilt that comes next threatens to destroy Emily’s marriage while Isaiah’s parents are in painful limbo. Emily feels she might be able to silence her guilt by doing good things…especially participating in marathons and runs to raise funds for charity…until she suffers an injury that seems to block that effort.

Isaiah’s grandmother’s faith leads to some beautiful connections which in the end honor this little boy’s memory. A subplot surfaces with the assault of Isaiah’s aunt, Carrie Anne, in her Central American mission city. Carrie Anne’s devotion to the children of the mission put her in a dangerous situation, yet a place she would probably go again to rescue the child who has come to the mission language classes. Carrie Annis sent home to her mother (Isaiah’s grandmother) to recover . When she gets there, she finds there is work for her in providing some spiritual support for her family.

The nasty, ambulance chaser lawyer is maybe a little over-drawn, but plays his part pretty well as he lures Isaiah’s parents into the possibility of a wrongful death law suit against Emily.

Writing from the wooded country of Iowa and releasing this first novel, Susan Lawrence has taken her own experiences as a teacher before she was an author and speaker, blending and bending imagination to scenarios of reality that no imagination can top. A sweet, sad, moving story that is not difficult to read. No profanity or offensive content. Bring a Hanky.

Reminding myself that nothing fictional can ever be dreamed that can be more outrageous than what happens in real life. In her debut novel, Carole Brown surely pushes readers’ tolerances in this book. Expect to be incensed and on the defense of people who want to escape cults or who can be sucked into that sort of spiritual mire. (You can find more releases from Carole Brown at her Amazon page in the link)

Caralynn Haman’s story is one of the spiritually and physically damaging religious cult life. Be prepared for graphic violence, physical and emotional abuse, lurid scenes and profanity.

As an attractive, spirited, challenging woman, Cara is the perfect foil for a religious cult where women are supposed to be nothing and are aggressively kept in ‘submission’. An interesting and not incorrect touch are the female characters who provide the foil when they show the power that women exert while keeping their sisters in obedience and submission.

Cara’s situation and character has led her to be rather amoral…after the death of her daughter at the hands of one of the cult leaders, she bides her time and lets disaster take its course to achieve vengeance. In some cases, Cara gives ‘fate’ a little push!

Her youthful love, Daune, raised in the cult with Cara, returns from college where he has seen the light and hopes to bring change to the cult believers. Because this cult is largely a business arrangement and not spiritually guided in any way, the suspense and plot thickens when his hopes are resisted. And when Cara’s submission is one of the goals to be achieved at any cost. Daune’s witness reaches Cara and several of the others about the truth in Christ overcoming the ‘gospel according to their destructive leader’ before the final scene where the real bad guy gets justice.

As this type of story goes, the writing is decent if not profound. If the read seems to be a little over the top at times, be kind and forgive the plot. These cults are not imaginary. The merit in the writing is to reveal the abuse; nothing works to slow the progress like tattling.

A moving tale of young people, immigration, crime, faith and friendship!

The story follow the main character, Alexandra from her early childhood when she was brought from Mexico to the US by a ‘coyote’ along with her mother. Her life was totally redirected when her mother was detained by border patrol who didn’t understand the language and pleas that this woman was leaving her small daughter.

Spending years in a foster home, Alexandra had no idea that her status was illegal, but that is one aspect she had to deal with along with a detour into crime that sent her back over the border to escape the law. Did the ‘relationship’ Alexandra develops with a geriatric Hammerhead shark become one of those ‘what goes round, comes round’ situations? You decide.

Most of the story is Alexandra’s experience building faith and eluding bounty hunters along the way. Her friends also find their way to Christ and her new nickname, Hummingbird, expands in meaning to her and the others. With a young woman’s tender heart, Alexandra/Hummingbird gives generous guidance to a homeless child and a homeless near-child who has supported herself through prostitution.

There is some violence, but no profanity as Alexandra experiences protection in her beliefs while the bad guys’ fate brings justice down on their heads. Stearman can be depended upon to bring Christianity into the stories and spiritual growth that sometimes surprises the characters. You can learn more about David Stearman‘s writing at his Amazon page and his ministries at DavidStearmanMinistries.org.

A pleasure read that moves fast and is not low voltage. I recommend Hummingbird.

Everlasting Lights, a Civil War novella is fast moving and surprising. The characters find themselves in the throes of war recovery…all of the soldiers in the family accounted for.. Some dead, some wounded and one missing, premed dead. This man is the one for home an everlasting light burns. Families and friends do not survive the destruction of war.

Is this man, Braeden McKenna, really dead as it seems? His wife, Alaina, cannot accept that. She is mildly supported by his parents and one faithful Negro. She is ‘assailed’ by his best friend who also has always admired her and encourages her to move on and marry HIM. There are shades of domestic problems in scenes before Alaina and Braeden are married…as one other reviewer put it, the second man is probably more mature and responsible. That isn’t how fate works…Alaina loves Braeden, the man had a jealous snit when she danced with his best friend before the war and who survived but assumed she died in an epidemic, so didn’t bust himself to be certain. He does come home finally, after the friend has left to ‘go West’ in his economically broken situation. Almost everyone else in the book died during the War, either from battle wounds or small pox, which contribute to Braden’s assumption that they all died. War is terrible as the various scenes included make plain. Death and destruction along with political confusion made for horrific conditions.

It seems as if there is a lot of emotion and history sort of ‘crammed’ together to get a complicated story run through in the novella length. That is an engineering condition often suffered by a shorter story…not wrong or bad, but there. The book has definite Christian points presented, no profanity, no smut and makes a wholesome pleasure read for a long winter afternoon. Andrea Boeshaar has a long list of books for readers to enjoy.

Solid historical fiction. Cassia is part of a series which began in the midst of the American Revolutionary War. Lilyan and her family encounter slave ships, pirates, new friends and new love for daughter Laurel.

Susan F. Craft spins a fast-moving tale that is a great pleasure read. I especially like the vocabulary explanations that she has at the end. Readers might like to look at it during reading or before so that any unfamiliar terms enrich the story. While I enjoy the writing, I try to read other things between her books so that I don’t begin second guessing her too much! The style could be called predictable. The style is definitely Christian without being denominational.

While there is some violence, readers must remember the situation involves resisting evil and wrong. There is no profanity or erotica. There are children in the book and you could let your children read the book. Or let your mother find it on your Kindle! I highly recommend this book for pleasure, enrichment and blessing.